Wild animals do not make good pets. No way, no how. Dogs have lived with Man for tens of thousands of years and have developed a mutual dependency - dog hunts for Man, Man feeds dog. Now look at the Cat. Cats have been with Man for thousands of years. At present the cat is about half domesticated. About twenty years ago, I read that the Russians were working on domesticating the Eland, a large African antelope, to use for meat. Since I have not read anything about this in years, it looks like it was a flop.

In my psychology textbook, I read about how a person who had a pet raccoon for a long time (since it was a baby) got two of his fingers bit off because the raccoon reverted back to its natural instincts.

Maybe not the best choice for a pet, though my mom had a pet monkey, and my uncle had a pet squirrel. =P

When I was young I had a friend who had a pet raccoon that he'd raised from infancy. They do not really tame well. It was good with him even though I would occasionally bite him if it was not in a good mood. They are also very destructive as it had done far more damage to his house than any dog or group of dogs I'd ever known.

I had a pet skunk years ago and I found that they far more capable of domestication. They tend to be like dogs in temperment although everyone assumes (incorrectly) that they are like cats.

They are ok for just a little while when they are young but never could be a great pet. They are very defensive and distructive but so dang cute. We let ours go after raising them for about 3 or 4 months. One still comes around about every night but he is no pet LOL.

Because of fur trapping where I grew up, there were many pups of various creatures that were found and often kept and raised as novelty pets, given to local kids who would care for them. The issue of rabies never came up....we were more afraid of armadillos and warned of leprosy. Most of these creatures lived/were raised outdoors and would come around and eat cat food/scraps with all the stray cats that were fed. Ones that were considered pets would be let into the house, but never allowed to stay in for the night and could not be house trained. But you could pet them and hold them.

msw1 saidBecause of fur trapping where I grew up, there were many pups of various creatures that were found and often kept and raised as novelty pets, given to local kids who would care for them. The issue of rabies never came up....we were more afraid of armadillos and warned of leprosy. Most of these creatures lived/were raised outdoors and would come around and eat cat food/scraps with all the stray cats that were fed. Ones that were considered pets would be let into the house, but never allowed to stay in for the night and could not be house trained. But you could pet them and hold them.

You mean they actually got along with the stray cats? Or did some of them flee at the sight of the other?

Have you ever watched the animated version of Pocahontas? What an obedient, helpful racoon she had as a pet, who also latched well to John Smith. Pity her little hummingbird pet did not cotton on to him so well and buzzed around him like an annoying insect!

As far as the commentary about foxes go, there was a good experiment on domesticating them. Dimtri Belyaev decided to domesticate the silver fox in order to study the process of domestication and the impact on organism. By selectively breeding the individuals who were the tamest, he essentially turned fox cubs into puppies, spending the last 26 years of his life on the project, though it continued after his death. Under very strict selection criteria (about the 5% tamest males and the 20% tamest females each generation), it only took about 10 generations for the foxes to eagerly seek out humans in non-aggressive ways.

They look too cute not to be pets, but I'd imagine it to be extremely difficult to domesticate a raccoon. Plus, they're evil . Even if it was possible to keep one as a pet, there is also that possibility that they can act unpredictable, aggressive and develop rabies.